The Americas

While Argentina and Brazil had most of South America’s star association football (soccer) players, including Brazil’s formidable playmaker Kaká, those countries had not performed well in their Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) World Cup qualifying group. While neither was in danger of failing to qualify for the 2010 finals, they were easily topped in the rankings by Paraguay. With the competition just past the halfway stage, unfancied Ecuador was also well placed to gain a spot. Ecuador’s advantage was playing home games at Quito’s high altitude. In World Cup qualifying matches farther north, the U.S. beat Cuba both at home (3–1) and away (1–0) in the first meetings between those countries’ teams in Cuba in 61 years.

Quito’s Liga Deportiva Universitaria (LDU) in 2008 became the first Ecuadoran club to win the Libertadores de América Cup. LDU also won the vice-championship of Ecuador’s domestic league behind cross-town rival Deportivo and qualified for the FIFA Club World Cup but lost to Manchester (Eng.) United 1–0 in the final on December 21. São Paulo FC secured the Brazilian national championship for the third straight year as the team’s goalkeeper, Rogerio Ceni, reached a total of 83 career goals from penalties and free kicks. Meanwhile, Mexico’s Pachuca retained the CONCACAF club championship, and Libertad took the Paraguayan title for the third straight year. Porto Alegre’s Internacional became the first Brazilian club to win the South American Cup, but the country continued to put its top four teams only into the Libertadores competition.

In Argentina, River Plate won the 2007–08 season’s closing championship but then unexpectedly finished at the bottom of the 2008–09 opening championship, which was tied by three clubs (Boca Juniors, San Lorenzo, and Tigre) for the first time since 1968. Boca Juniors gained the club’s 23rd professional title by scoring one more goal in the play-offs. Another big event in Argentina was the naming of the controversial former star player Diego Maradona as the coach of the national team.

In the U.S. the Columbus Crew was a first-time winner of the Major League Soccer (MLS) Cup. The sport appeared to be gaining in popularity. The MLS intended to expand from 14 to 16 clubs by 2010, and requests had been received from seven other cities seeking franchises.

Africa and Asia

Egypt retained its association football (soccer) African Nations Cup title with a 1–0 win over Cameroon in the final, held on Feb. 10, 2008, in Accra, Ghana. Muhammad Aboutrika scored the game’s only goal in the 77th minute. The Egyptians were able to contain Cameroon’s prolific goalkicker Samuel Eto’o, who ended the tournament as the competition’s all-time leading scorer, with 16 goals.

In the East Asian championship, staged in Chongqing, China, three of the six games played in the group final ended in draws. Although the deciding match, between South Korea and Japan, was played to a 1–1 tie, the South Koreans were declared the champions, since they had scored more goals overall in the tournament. China placed third, and North Korea was fourth.

U.S. Football

College

Florida won its second top college football ranking in three years by defeating Oklahoma 24–14 in the 2008–09 Bowl Championship Series (BCS) championship game on Jan. 8, 2009, in Miami Gardens, Fla. Quarterback Tim Tebow was the game’s Most Outstanding Player with 109 yd rushing and 231 yd and two touchdowns on passes for the Southeastern Conference (SEC) champion Gators. Florida’s (13–1) defense held Big 12 champion Oklahoma (12–2) 40 points below its regular-season average of 54.0 (the Sooners had scored a record 702 points during the season and more than 60 in their last five games). It was fifth-ranked Oklahoma’s fifth BCS bowl-game loss in six years and the fifth defeat in six years for the top-ranked team entering the BCS championship game.

Mountain West Conference winner Utah (13–0), Pacific-10 winner Southern California (12–1), and Texas (12–1) ranked second through fourth in the final reporters’ Associated Press (AP) poll, with the coaches’ USA Today poll placing Utah behind the others. Each school made a reasonable claim for the top ranking, however. Utah, the only undefeated team in the big-budget Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS), won the Sugar Bowl 31–17 over Alabama (12–2), which had been ranked first for five weeks before losing the SEC championship game to Florida. Southern California allowed FBS-low averages of 9.0 points and 134.4 yd passing per game and defeated Big Ten winner Penn State (11–2) by a score of 38–24 in the Rose Bowl. Texas won the Fiesta Bowl 24–21 over Ohio State (10–3) after having been denied a spot in the Big 12 championship game despite having beaten Oklahoma, ranking ahead of the Sooners in the AP poll, and having identical conference and overall records as Oklahoma and Texas Tech (11–2). Oklahoma played North Division winner Missouri (10–4) for the Big 12 title because it ranked higher in the BCS formula (which includes polls and computer rankings).

Atlantic Coast Conference champion Virginia Tech (10–4) won the Orange Bowl 20–7 over Big East champion Cincinnati (11–3), and Western Athletic Conference winner Boise State (12–1) lost 17–16 to Texas Christian (TCU; 11–2) in the Poinsettia Bowl. With Jerry Hughes’s FBS-leading 15 sacks, TCU allowed per-game lows of 217.8 yd and 47.1 yd rushing over the season. Both polls ranked Alabama, TCU, and Penn State sixth, seventh, and eighth, respectively. The season had six different top-ranked teams, which was more than in 2007–08, although that year had fewer undefeated and one-loss teams, as well as bigger swings in the rankings.

Quarterback Sam Bradford of Oklahoma became the only sophomore besides Tebow in 2007 to have won the Heisman Trophy for the best overall player. Bradford, who also won the Davey O’Brien Award as best quarterback, led the FBS with 50 touchdown passes and 180.8 rating points but threw two of his eight interceptions against Florida in the BCS final. Honours also went to Tebow, the second player with two consecutive Maxwell Awards, after Notre Dame’s Johnny Lattner in 1952–53, and to Texas quarterback Colt McCoy, the Walter Camp Player of the Year. Tebow also received the Disney Spirit Award for being inspirational and the Danny Wuerffel Trophy for community service.

McCoy had the highest completion percentage, and Texas Tech’s Graham Harrell had the most passing yards with 5,111, as his team led the FBS with 413.2 yd passing per game. Oklahoma, Texas Tech, and Texas ranked first, third, and fifth, respectively, in scoring, with top-10 passers in yards, touchdowns, and efficiency rating. Oklahoma State and Missouri gave the Big 12 Conference 5 teams among the top 10 in total offense and passing efficiency. The other leading offenses were Tulsa, with 569.9 yd per game behind quarterback David Johnson’s FBS-high 10.15 yd per pass attempt, and Navy, with 292.4 yd rushing per game.

Rushing leader Donald Brown of Connecticut gained 2,083 yd, 18 per game more than runner-up Shonn Greene of Iowa, the Doak Walker Award winner as the best running back. The top receivers were North Texas’s Casey Fitzgerald with 113 catches, Brigham Young’s Austin Collie with 1,538 yd, and Texas Tech sophomore Michael Crabtree with 18 touchdowns and his second straight Fred Biletnikoff Award. Scoring leader Javon Ringer of Michigan State had 132 points on 22 rushing touchdowns. Honoured as the top defensive players were Southern California middle linebacker Rey Maualuga with the Chuck Bednarik Award and Texas defensive end Brian Orakpo with both the Bronko Nagurski Trophy and the Lombardi Award for best lineman or linebacker. Alabama’s Nick Saban was named Coach of the Year. Alabama offensive tackle Andre Smith won the Outland Trophy for interior linemen.

East Carolina (9–4) won Conference USA, and Troy (8–5) claimed the Sun Belt Conference. Buffalo (8–6) upset previously undefeated Ball State (12–2) in the Mid-American Conference championship game before losing its first-ever bowl game, falling 38–20 to Connecticut in the International Bowl. After upgrading to the highest football division in 1999, Buffalo went 10–69 in seven years through 2005 before making a comeback under coach Turner Gill. Also ending long dry spells were 10–3 Rice, which took its first bowl win in 55 years (a 38–14 Texas Bowl victory over Western Michigan); 7–6 Vanderbilt, which secured its first bowl win in 53 years (16–14 over Boston College in the Music City Bowl); and 7–6 Notre Dame, which halted its record losing streak of nine straight bowl games by crushing Hawaii 49–21 in the Hawaii Bowl. National champions in the lower-budget divisions were 13–3 Richmond in the Football Championship Subdivision (formerly Division I-AA), first-time winner 15–0 Minnesota-Duluth in Division II, 15–0 Mount Union (Ohio) in Division III, and 14–0 Sioux Falls (S.D.) in the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics.

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